


The story behind the man: Iron Man 1

by Anothershadow24



Series: The story behind the man [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Captain America: Civil War (Movie), F/M, Iron Man 1, Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, M/M, The Avengers - Freeform, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony is not happy about it, Watch-it fic, avengers watch the movies, everyone gets to see the truth about Tony, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:14:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28158897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anothershadow24/pseuds/Anothershadow24
Summary: A year after the so called 'Civil War', the six original avengers, plus Sam, Wanda, Vision, Fury and Hill, get locked up on a room to watch a stack of films about one Tony Stark.
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Tony Stark
Series: The story behind the man [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2062935
Comments: 125
Kudos: 231





	1. What the hell?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I've read a lot of fics like this and I've always wanted to write one myself, so, I hope you like it!

When Tony opened his eyes and paid attention to his surroundings, he could recognize the common room of the compound. He also realized he wasn’t the only one in the place.

"What the hell?" He had been in his workshop at the mansion when a flash blinded him and he lost consciousness.

"Bruce?", The scientist looked at him confused.

"Tony? What happened? Why are we in the compound?"

"I don't know. What are you doing here? Weren't you visiting your cousin?"

"I was, but then there was some kind of flash and now I'm here"

Putting aside the fact that they hadn’t the faintest idea how they had gotten there, Tony was glad to see Bruce. It had been two weeks since he had left to spend time with Jennifer and he was already starting to miss his boyfriend.

He quickly wrapped him in a hug, "Hi"

"Hey, you", he felt Bruce nuzzle his neck. "I missed you"

"Missed you too, big guy"

They disarmed the hug after a small and discreet but sweet kiss and focused on the other figures thrown around them that were beginning to rise.

A few moments later, Tony scanned the room and sweared under his breath. Rhodey, Thor and Vision were in a corner talking quietly - they had started a good friendship since the god returned to earth with a ship full of Asgardians plus his brother and Bruce. Fury and Hill stood in silence, analyzing the situation carefully. The only problem was the captain and his team.

Steve, Wanda, Clint, Natasha, and Sam were gathered a few feet away from them, all throwing him the stink eye.

"What did you do Stark? Did you gather us here to arrest us?" Asked Barton.

"What else did you expect from him Clint?" Wanda commented.

Bruce, feeling the anger begin to build, decided to intervene. "Now hold your horses people. Why do you think Tony had something to do with this? He woke up here just like everyone else, so back off"

Tony put a hand on the scientist's shoulder and felt the tension immediately subside.

"There's a stack of films here, with a tag that says 'must watch' "

"And what exactly does that mean?" Sam asked Maria.

"How should I know?"

A voice that seemed to come from everywhere startled them. "You are all here because a great threat is heading to earth and the key person to win that battle is the one most of you seem to hate. This cannot continue. If you do not work as a team, you will lose", everyone felt uneasy hearing this. "And believe me, the results of that loss would be devastating to the entire universe"

"Who are you? And why should we believe you?"

"You do not have to believe me, but what can you lose by amusing me and watching the films?"

"What if I don't want to watch them?"

"Well, the compound is in lockdown at the moment. You cannot leave and no one can enter. You are the only people here. Only the bedrooms, the kitchen and this place are open for your use."

This proved to be true when Steve tried to open the study door and even with his super strength he couldn't.

"Also, you will find that you are not able to use your powers, strength nor your alter egos. At least until I let you out of here", Bruce breathed a sigh of relief at that. He no longer had to worry about Hulking-out and smashing everyone.

"If I may ask, who is this key person you speak of?"

"Anthony Edward Stark"

Tony felt his world spin. He couldn't be. He wasn't the key to anything. And even if he was, why should they watch movies about his life? So that the others could hate him more than they already did? No thanks.

"You need to understand the story behind the man so that you can accept him.There is much you do not know. You need to be able to work as a team. There are also things about other people in those films. Things not everyone knows. Secrets that some people in this room are keeping quiet"

"We're spies, agents. Secrets are part of the job"

"I am not talking about you Mr. Fury"

They all looked at each other uncomfortably and, after a long awkward silence, began to take their seats. Rhodey, Thor and Bruce dragged him to one of the couches. Vision took a seat in a single chair as did the two heads of S.H.I.E.L.D. Natasha and Clint claimed a loveseat and Steve, Sam and Wanda the other couch.

The Russian spy offered to put the first disc in the DVD player and that's how it began.

When the first image appeared on the screen, Tony gasped and grabbed Bruce's hand tightly.

"Shit"


	2. A rocky start

**A convoy of humvees appear on the screen, speeding down a road in what looked like a desert.**

Tony squeezed Bruce’s hand realizing just what exactly was this, making his boyfriend look at him with worry.

**Tony Stark is shown having a drink with a few soldiers, “I feel like you're driving me to a court-martial. This is crazy. What did I do? I feel like you're going to pull over and snuff me. What, you're not allowed to talk? Hey, Forrest!”**

“Oh, so you’ve always been that disrespectful. Good to know”, said Clint.

“Drinking while you’re with soldiers that are doing their job”, Steve shook his head in disappointment. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Shut it, Rogers”, snapped Rhodey.

**"We can talk, sir", said one of the soldiers.**

**"Oh, I see. So it's personal?"**

“You just can’t help yourself, can you?”

**The soldier that was driving smiled and said, "No, you intimidate them."**

**"Good God, you're a woman. I honestly... I couldn't have called that. I mean, I'd apologize, but isn't that what we're going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first. "**

“Not a really good save, Stark”, said Hill with a smirk.

**“I'm an airman.”**

**“Well you have, actually, excellent bone structure, there. I'm kind of having a hard time not looking at you now. Is that weird?”**

“Yes, it is”, Natasha said.

**The soldiers in the vehicle chuckled. "Come on, it's okay to laugh"**

**"Sir, I have a question to ask"**

**"Yes, please"**

**"Is it true you went 12 for 12 with last year's Maxim cover models?"**

All the women in the room glared at him and Tony sinked more on the couch. Clint tho, looked impressed. Bruce just caressed his hand from him.

**"That is an excellent question. Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately, the Christmas cover was twins. Anything else?"**

"Tony!", Steve sent him another disapproving look.

"Can you stop with that? That was years ago, okay? I've changed a lot since then. So stop acting like it's happening now"

**The soldier next to Tony raises his hand. "You're kidding me with the hand up, right?"**

**"Is it cool if I take a picture with you?"**

**"Yes. It's very cool."**

"See? He can be nice," said Rhodey.

"Friend Tony is nice most of the time", nodded Thor in agreement.

**The soldier, Jimmy, gets closer to Tony and asks someone else to take their picture. The genius asks him not to post it on MySpace and, as the picture is taken, something hit and blew up the vehicle in front of them. Gunshots and such were heard and hitting the side of their vehicle**

“Holy shit!”

“What the hell was that?!”

“Oh my god”

Bruce, who noticed how Tony had closed his eyes tightly and had started to breath heavily, tucked him against his side and held him close trying to hide his own panic.

**"What's going on?" Tony yelled.**

**"Contact left!"**

**"What have we got?"**

**The driver stepped out to go into combat and was shot down.**

**"Jimmy, stay with Stark!"**

**"Stay down!"**

**"Yeah." The other Soldier from the front seat got out to shoot but was shot too.**

**"They're a bitch!" Jimmy said before heading out to fight.**

“No! Stay in there!”, some shouted at the screen.

“Horrible. This is horrible”

Everyone had their eyes glued to the screen, not wanting to miss anything but at the same time, not wanting to find out what happened next.

**“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Give me a gun!”**

**"Stay here!" Jimmy ordered him.**

"A gun?" Asked the archer mockingly. "What did you want to do with a gun? Throw it at someone's head and run away"

"Clint", Sam tried to say.

"You realize that Stark used to work creating weapons, right?" Fury commented who had been silent.

"That is correct. And Mr Stark himself always tested the weapons he created," added Vision.

"You remember?" Tony asked with a spark of hope. Maybe JARVIS wasn't quite gone.

"I do"

**Jimmy turned back around and he was gunned down too, holes piercing the vehicle. Tony's hearing and senses were dulled a bit as he got himself out of the vehicle, stumbling a bit in the chaos. He got some of his hearing from him back and ran and dove behind a rock for cover. He pulled out his phone to contact and call for help when a bomb landed next to him. He looked over to see it say: Stark Industries.**

"How ironic", muttered Tony.

Wanda was thinking along the same lines. It was karma.

**He tried to get up and get away, but didn't in time. The bomb exploded and made him fly through the air a bit. He hit the ground hard, senses dulled again. He pulled his shirt out of the way to see the bulletproof vest he was wearing. Blood started to pool and he fell unconscious.**

"Tones, is this it?" Bruce whispered in his ear. "Is this when ..."

He nodded.

"I should have been with you, I should have protected you," Rhodey said beside him in a guilty tone.

"No. They would have killed you too. I'm glad you weren't there"

**The scene changes and Tony appears being escorted by men until they sit him in a chair and take the bag that had been placed on his head. He looks terrible. His chest is heavily bandaged and bloodstains cover it. The men speak in a foreign language.**

"Oh, crap. Are they filming you?" Asks Sam to which Tony nods.

"So they're going to ask for something in exchange for you, right?"

The genius looks at Steve and rolls his eyes, "Just watch the film, Rogers. I don't do spoilers"

Beside him, Tony can hear Rhodey speaking under his breath, "Then why the fuck didn't we recieved that video?"

**The screen went dark and the words ‘IRON MAN’ appeared written in gold.**

_Welp_ , Tony thought, _this is going to be a fucking nightmare._


	3. Casino

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 36 hour earlier. Christine and Pepper's first appearences.

**The screen shows a slide show while a voice over talks about Tony’s achievements. “Tony Stark. Visionary. Genius. American patriot.”**

Steve let out a dry laugh, almost mockingly, making Bruce, Fury and Rhodey glare at him. 

“I mean, we know he’s a genius. The guy reminds us like, every five minutes”, said Clint bitterly.

“What’s wrong Barton? Jealous of his higher IQ?”

**“Even from an early age, the son of legendary weapons developer Howard Stark quickly stole the spotlight with his brilliant and unique mind. At age four, he built his first circuit board. At age six, his first engine. And at 17, he graduated summa cum laude from MIT.”**

“What the hell? Really? That’s impressive, Stark”, said Sam with wide eyes.

“Thanks”, he replied quietly, cheeks stained a soft pink.

**“Then, the passing of a titan.”**

Tony stiffened at that. Flashes of Siberia ran through his mind making him freeze on the spot. Bruce, sensing this, squeezed his hand tightly and rubbed soothing circles on his back. Thor put a warm hand on his shoulder and Rhodey did the same but on his knee. 

Slowly, he began to regain his control and started to calm himself. He was so damn lucky to have them by his side. He couldn’t imagine a life without these guys.

A few meters away, Steve was squirming uncomfortably at the reminder of his past friend and everything that happened because of it, making his team look at him weird. 

They didn’t understand what was happening because they didn’t know what had happened.

**“Howard Stark's lifelong friend and ally, Obadiah Stane, steps in to help fill the gap left by the legendary founder, until, at age 21, the prodigal son returns and is anointed the new CEO of Stark Industries. With the keys to the kingdom, Tony ushers in a new era for his father's legacy, creating smarter weapons, advanced robotics, satellite targeting. Today, Tony Stark has changed the face of the weapons industry by ensuring freedom and protecting America and her interests around the globe.”**

Obadiah’s name made the already stiff air go cold. The ones who knew the story behind that man growled and sweared under their breath making the rest exchange questioning glances.

**Rhodey appeared on stage. “As liaison to Stark Industries, I've had the unique privilege of serving with a real patriot. He is my friend and he is my great mentor. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to present this year's Apogee Award to Mr. Tony Stark. Tony?”**

“Your great mentor, aren’t I?” Tony said, teasing his friend and making a few of the others chuckle.

“Shut it. I didn’t write that stupid speech”

“Uh-hu, or you’re really my disciple. It’s okay honey bear. No need to feel ashamed”

“Stop it or I’ll wipe that infuriating smirk with a punch”

“So cranky”

Everyone smiled softly at that. Even if they didn’t particularly like Tony, they couldn’t deny the bond between the two friends was as strong as can be.

**As Tony didn’t show up, Obadiah takes charge of the situation going up with Rhodey. “ Thank you, Colonel”**

**“Thanks for the save.”**

“Where were you?” Asked Hill.

“Not there. That’s obvious.”

**“This is beautiful. Thank you. Thank you all very much. This is wonderful. Well, I'm not Tony Stark. But if I were Tony, I would tell you how honored I feel and what a joy it is to receive this very prestigious award. Tony, you know...The best thing about Tony is also the worst thing. He's always working.”**

“That is actually true”, said Bruce grinning.

“Yeah, but not that time.”

**The scene changes and now it shows Tony at the casino. “Work it! Come on! We should just stay till the morning.”**

“Tony!”, said the captain with a disapproving tone. “You can’t be that irresponsible.”

Tired of his comments, Tony snapped. “Oh come off the high horse, Rogers. You’re not that responsible either so shut up. At least I hear the worries of 117 countries”

No one dared say a thing after that, but Steve clenched his jaw and tried not to punch the billionaire in the face. _Again with those damn Accords. Why can’t he assume he was in the wrong?_

**“You are unbelievable,” said Rhodey appearing at Tony’s side.**

**“Oh, no! Did they rope you into this?”**

**“Nobody roped me into anything!”**

**“I'm so sorry.”**

“No you weren’t”

“Nope. But I am now. I’m sorry you had to put up with my stupid ass.”

“I’ve been dealing with you since you were a small, scrawny teenager. I can handle it, Tones.”

**“But they told me that if I presented you with an award, you'd be deeply honored.”**

**“Of course I'd be deeply honored. And it's you, that's great. So, when do we do it?”**

**“It's right here. Here you go.”**

**“There it is. That was easy. I'm so sorry.”**

**Tony plays his turn and chats with Rhodey while flirting with a wom** **an besides him. After a short scene, they are seen leaving the casino with Happy on their tail.**

“Who’s that?”, asked Wanda.

“That’s Happy”, said Tony with a soft smile. “He was my bodyguard and it’s to date, one of my closest friends.”

“Then why don’t we know him? Scared we will turn him against you?”

Rhodey didn’t like Clint Barton one bit. “You don’t know him because he didn’t want to meet you. He hates all your stupid asses. If you ask me, that just shows what a wise man he is.

“Keep your comments to yourself, Clint,” said Natasha coldly, surprising everyone. “Don’t talk about shit you don’t know.”

_Uh,_ thought Tony, _maybe there’s still hope for the spider._

**“This is where I exit.”**

**“All right.”**

**“Tomorrow, don't be late.”**

**“Yeah, you can count on it.”**

**“I'm serious!” Said Rhodey.**

**“I know, I know.”** **He handed over his award to Caesar. “Render unto Caesar, that which is Caesar's. There you go.”**

“Wait. Why would you do that? I thought that’s a pretty important award. Why would you hand it over to a stranger?”

“I have like four others. It lost the importance with time.”

Bruce laughed at the dumbfounded expressions of the others- except Fury and Hill, obviously. He could definitely imagine Tony getting bored of the awards, that’s just who he is. And damn, if he doesn’t love him for that.

**Once outside of the casino, a reporter stopped Tony from getting inside the car.**

**“Mr. Stark! Excuse me, Mr. Stark! Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair magazine. Can I ask you a couple of questions?”**

**Happy whispered to him, “She's cute.”**

**“She’s alright?” He turned to face Christine, “Hi.”**

“Ugh, men”, all the women said rolling their eyes. 

**“You've been called the da Vinci of our time. What do you say to that?”**

**“Absolutely ridiculous. I don't paint.”**

That earned him a few chuckles.

“Who is this da Vinci person she is talking about?” Asked Thor.

“Just a really famous painter.”

“He was also a scientist, an engineer and an inventor. So I can see where the comparison comes from”, said Vision. 

“It’s still ridiculous”, muttered Tony.

**“And what do you say to your other nickname? "The Merchant of Death"?”**

**“That's not bad.”**

“Yes, it is”, whispered Tony, making Bruce squeeze his hand again.

**“Let me guess. Berkeley?”**

**“Brown, actually.”**

**“Well, Ms. Brown. It's an imperfect world, but it's the only one we've got. I guarantee you, the day weapons are no longer needed to keep the peace, I'll start making bricks and beams for baby hospitals.”**

**“You rehearse that much?”**

**“Every night in front of the mirror before bedtime.”**

Fury snorted. “If only you rehearsed the cards we give you.” Tony sent a toothy smile his way making his gaze soften. 

**“I can see that.”**

**“I'd like to show you first-hand.”**

**“All I want is a serious answer.”**

**“Okay, here's serious. My old man had a philosophy, "Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy."”**

_Why would Howard say that?_ Thought Steve.

**“That's a great line coming from the guy selling the sticks.”**

**“My father helped defeat the Nazis. He worked on the Manhattan Project. A lot of people, including your professors at Brown, would call that being a** **hero.”**

**“And a lot of people would also call that war profiteering.”**

**“Tell me, do you plan to report on the millions we've saved by advancing medical technology or kept from starvation with our intelli-crops? All those breakthroughs, military funding, honey.”**

“That’s true. No one ever talked about the good things you were doing with the company.”

“Why Maria, was that a compliment?” Asked Tony raising his eyebrows.

“Don’t let it get to your head, Stark.”

“Ha, not likely”, said Wanda, making Vision look at her with disappointment.

**“You ever lost an hour of sleep your whole life?”**

**“I'd be prepared to lose a few with you.”**

**Next scene showed Tony and Christine at his house in Malibu about to have sex.**

“Ew, no. Get that out”

“My eyes! Why can’t we skip that?”

“Disgusting, Stark. I don’t wanna see you naked. Ever,” said Sam.

Bruce tugged him closer to his body “That’s good,” he whispered. “I’m the only one allowed to see you naked.”

Tony blushed and Rhodey gagged. “I hate you guys.”

**The next day, Christine woke up and looked out of the window. “Good morning. It's 7:00 a.m. The weather in Malibu is 72 degrees with scattered clouds. The surf conditions are fair with waist-to-shoulder high lines. High tide will be at 10:52 a.m.” The Malibu house is shown.**

“Holy crap. That’s gorgeous,” said Clint, momentarily forgetting to be mean.

Vision agreed, “It was indeed stunning.”

“That’s the one that blew up, right?” Tony nodded.

**The reporter walked around the house. “Tony? Hey, Tony?” She tried to play with the controls on the wall.**

“I wouldn’t do-”

**The controls beep at her.**

“- that,” Natasha finished saying. “Idiot”

**“You are not authorized to access this area.”**

**“Jesus”**

**“That's JARVIS. He runs the house. I've got your clothes here. They've been dry-cleaned and pressed, and there's a car waiting for you outside that will take you anywhere you'd like to go”, said Pepper appearing behind her.**

“That sounds like it’s not the first time she says it.”

“That’s because it's not”

**“You must be the famous Pepper Potts.”**

**“Indeed I am.”**

**“After all these years, Tony still has you picking up the dry-cleaning.”**

“Oh, that was dumb of her”, said Thor making everyone look at him.

“What do you mean?” Asked Wanda, one of the only ones that didn’t know his redhead friend.

“Lady Pepper is a formidable woman. I do not see this ending well for the rude blonde lady.”

**“I do anything and everything that Mr. Stark requires, including, occasionally, taking out the trash. Will that be all?”**

“Burned!”

“Hell, yes! That’s how you do it”

“That was awesome”

Tony’s eyes sparkled at hearing all these people complimenting one of his best friends.

“You know, the first time we slept together, Pepper tried to kick me out.”

“Really?”, asked the genius surprised. “Why is this the first time I’m hearing about this?”

“Cause when she saw that there was no way in hell I was gonna leave before you woke up, she gave me her approval, then the shovel talk, and then made me swear not to tell you”

He grinned, “Sounds like Pepper”

They both laughed and Tony discreetly nuzzled Bruce’s neck. Everyone was distracted talking about what they had seen so they didn’t notice. Well, everyone minus Rhodey.

“Can you two stop being disgustingly cute for two minutes?”

“Nop”

“Are you going to keep being like this during the films?”

“Yup”

“Ugh, this is going to be awful”


	4. Tony before the cave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone gets closer to seeing the truth about Afghanistan.

**The screen shows Tony in his workshop, concentrated, working on one of his cars. “Give me an exploded view.”**

**“** **The compression in cylinder three appears to be low.”**

“Hi JARVIS!” said Bruce, Natasha, Rhodey and Thor, the ones that had known the AI the best.

Steve had never understood the weird relationship between Tony and his robots and Clint had to bite himself to avoid commenting on killer robots. 

Wanda had never met JARVIS, she had not heard of who or what she was either. 

Fury and Hill continued their staunch attitude and Vision smiled softly, feeling that part of him that belonged to the old AI. That part that connected him to Tony Stark. That part that contained the memories of all those years.

Tony, on the other hand, had to hold back tears when he heard the voice of his long lost friend.

**“Log that.”**

**Pepper entered the workshop talking on the phone. “I'm gonna try again, right now.”**

**“ Please don't turn down my music,” said Tony.**

“Do you always work with the music that loud?” Asked Sam curiously.

“Always,” answered Rhodey and Bruce for him.

“Yup, helps me concentrate.”

Everyone looked at him as if he was crazy. Well, nothing new on that front.

**“I'll keep you posted.” Pepper ended the call. “ You are supposed to be halfway around the world right now.”**

**“How'd she take it?”**

**“Like a champ.”**

“Oh, so it really wasn’t the first time she did that.”

“Nop”

**“Why are you trying to hustle me out of here?”**

**“Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago.”**

“An hour and a half?!” Yelled Clint.

“Tony!”

“Quit it, Cap,” said Rhodey rolling his eyes. “Yes, he was late almost every single time, but that was years ago, so please, keep your disapprovement to yourself.”

That seemed to shut the Captain up, so Bruce, over Tony’s shoulder, mouthed “Thank you” to the dark-skinned man. God knew Tony was going through enough already.

**“That's funny, I thought with it being my plane and all, that it would just wait for me to get there.”**

**“Tony, I need to speak to you about a couple things before I get you out of the door.”**

**“I mean, doesn't it kind of defeat the whole purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?”**

“The man has a point,” said Fury.

Tony, although shocked at having the spy’s support on that tiny little detail, said, “Thank you! See? The pirate agrees, what does that tell you?”

**“Larry called. He's got another buyer for the Jackson Pollock in the wings. Do you want it? Yes or no.”**

**“Is it a good representation of his spring period?”**

**“Um, no. The Springs was actually the neighborhood in East Hampton where he lived and worked--”**

**“So?”**

**“--not "spring" like the season. I think it's a fair example. Um.. I think it's incredibly overpriced.”**

**“I need it. Buy it. Store it.”**

**“Okay. The MIT commencement speech…”**

**“Is in June. Please, don't harangue me about stuff that's way, way, down…”**

“Surprised you remembered that, Tony”, Natasha said, looking at him with a smirk and remembering her time as his PA.

“Why are you surprised?” asked Thor innocently. “Friend Tony always reminds me of the boring meeting with SHIELD and the feasts we have. He never forgets anything.”

Tony’s heart felt warmed at his friends wards. Clearly, he was not used to people not always seeing the worst about him. 

**“Well, they're haranguing me, so I'm gonna say yes.”**

**“Deflect it and absorb it. Don't transmit it back to me.”**

**“I need you to sign this before you get on the plane.”**

**“What are you trying to get rid of me for? What, you got plans?”**

**“As a matter of fact, I do.”**

“It was her birthday, wasn’t it?” Bruce whispered in his ear. Tony nodded sheepishly.

**“I don't like it when you have plans.”**

**“I'm allowed to have plans on my birthday.”**

**“It's your birthday?”**

**“Yes.”**

**“I knew that. Already?”**

**“Yeah. Isn't that strange? It's the same day as last year.”**

“Burned”

“How can you not remember her birthday?hadn’t she been working for you for a hell of a long time already?”

“She did, I’m just bad with dates, okay? I can never remember birthdays or anniversaries or stuff like that.”

“That’s true, it’s always been like that,” said Rhodey.

“People with high work loads, like Mr. Stark, tend to forget dates because they tend to forget what day of the week it is. They are so focused on their work that it slips past them,” explained Vision.

**“Well, get yourself something nice from me.”**

**“I already did.”**

**“And?”**

**“Oh, it was very nice.”**

**“Yeah?”**

**“Very tasteful. Thank you, Mr. Stark.”**

**“You're welcome, Miss Potts."**

“Well shit, you can feel the sexual tension between those two. How long did it take them to get together?” Asked Sam.

“Ugh, too fucking long,” said Rhodey annoyed making Tony, Thor and Bruce laugh.

“I think they’re adorable,” said Hill, shocking everyone. “What? I’m not a rock, I have feelings too. Also, you can’t argue that they’re cute.”

Steve and Natasha nodded but Wanda and Clint made a disgusted face.

**Happy and Tony raced to the airport. “You're good. I thought I lost you back there.”**

**“You did, sir. I had to cut across Mulholland.”**

**“I got you. I got you.”**

**“What's wrong with you?” Asked a pissed off Rhodey standing at the door of the plane.**

**“What?”**

**“Three hours.”**

“So irresponsible,” muttered Steve, shaking his head.

**“I got caught doing a piece for Vanity Fair.”**

**“For three hours. For three hours you got me standing here.”**

**“Waiting on you now. Let's go. Come on. Wheels up! Rock and roll!”**

“I’m sorry Honey Bear, I was a jerk back then.”

“You’re still a jerk, Tones,” he said jokingly. “And I’ve already forgiven you for everything. You already forgave me for everything. Let’s move on.”

“Okay.”

**Inside the jet. “What you reading, platypus?**

**“Nothing.”**

**“Come on, sour patch.”**

**“I'm not sour.”**

Everyone, minus Fury, laughed at the scene. “Has he ever called you by your name?” Asked Bruce.

“I don’t think so, no. The day we met I told him my complete name and he just said ‘I’m gonna call you Rhodey. James is boring and everyone calls you Rhodes. I want to be special.’ After that, not even my mom called me James.”

That made everyone laugh again. Tony sniffed, “You should thank me for that. No one wants a common and boring name. There’s too many James’ in the ocean...”

“I believe the saying it’s ‘ too many fish in the ocean’” 

“Whatever.”

**“Don't be mad.”**

**“I told you, I'm not mad. I'm indifferent, okay?” Said Rhodey.**

**“I said I was sorry.”**

**A Flight Attendant appeared. “Good morning, Mr. Stark.”**

**“You don't need to apologize to me.”**

**“I told you I was sorry.”**

**“I'm your man.”**

**“Hi. I told him I was sorry, but he-”, said Tony to the flight attendant.**

“Why do you always have to involve other people?”

“Cause I don’t know how to handle feelings or voice them, so strangers help as a buffer.”

“I don’t know if that’s incredibly smart or incredibly stupid,” said Clint.

“Try stupidly smart.”

**“I'm just indifferent right now.”**

**“Hot towel?” Offered the flight attendant.**

**“You don't respect yourself, so I know you don't respect me.”**

That made Tony flinch. It was true when that happened. He’d been in such a self destructive moment of his life.

His best friend’s hand on his knee made him smile, distracting him from his thoughts. 

**“I respect you.”**

**“I'm just your babysitter. So, when you need your diaper changed…”, he grabbed a hot towel. “Thank you. Let me know and I'll get you a bottle, okay?”**

**Tony ordered drinks and Rhodey complained about it, saying he didn’t want to drink and that he was being irresponsible.**

“What about what he wanted Tony?”

“You know what Steve? You should stop assuming you know my best friend better than I do. I met him when I was fifteen. Do you really think I don’t know when he really doesn’t want to do something?”

**Time passed and Rhodey and Tony appeared drunk on the couch with the flight attendants dancing around them.**

**“That's what I'm talking about. When I get up in the morning and I'm putting on my uniform, you know what I recognize? I see in that mirror that every person that's got this uniform on got my back!”**

**“Hey, you know what? I'm not like you. I'm not cut out…”**

“Not cut out for what? What were you going to say?” Asked Sam.

“For teamwork. I’m not cut out for team work.”

“Well that’s bullshit,” said Bruce.

“You are one of the best shield brothers I have, do not put yourself down, friend Tony.”

“He’s right. You are great, Tones.”

“Indeed,” nodded Vision.

**“No, no. You don't have to be like me! But you're more than what you are.”**

**“Can you excuse me if I'm a bit distracted here?”**

**“No! You can't be distracted right now! Listen to me!”**

**Scenes start to cut more quickly. It shows arriving in Afghanistan, meeting the General and giving his presentation with the launch of the missiles.**

**“Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both? With that in mind, I humbly present the crown jewel of Stark Industries' Freedom Line. It's the first missile system to incorporate our proprietary repulsor technology. They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once. That's how Dad did it. That's how America does it. And it's worked out pretty well so far. Find an excuse to let one of these off the chain, and I personally guarantee you the bad guys won't even want to come out of their caves.”**

Tony shaked his head. “That clearly didn’t stop them from being bad guys inside those caves,” he murmured grimly. 

He was starting to feel sick, knowing what was coming. He didn’t want all these people watching him at his lowest point. He didn’t want them to watch him falling apart, being betrayed, being hurt and having his ‘heart’ ripped out of him. 

**“For your consideration, the Jericho.” The missiles exploded.**

**Tony is showed opening a cooler full of alcohol. “I'll be throwing one of these in with every purchase of 500 million or more. To peace!” His phone rang and Obadiah appeared on the screen of his phone.**

The real Tony flinch at the sight of the man, giving Bruce the opening to start caressing his hand again. Rhodey squeezed his knee and Fury only looked at him from the corner of his eye, trying to hide his concern.

**“Tony.”**

**“Obie, what are you doing up?”**

**“I couldn't sleep till I found out how it went. How'd it go?”**

Sam frowned. “Was it really that important? He sounded weird.”

Tony looked at the man with an appreciative glint on his eyes. This man was already distrusting Obie going only by that short call, while he had been by his side for years and never suspected a thing. “You know what, Wilson? I could’ve used someone like you earlier on in my life.”

“I- uh- thanks?”

“Keep it in your memory, cause I’m not gonna repeat that ever again.”

“Sure thing, Stark,” said Sam smiling playfully. 

He was beginning to see another side of the man, one that he hadn’t had the chance of seeing before. He had always trusted what the others told him about Tony, but now he was wondering if maybe they weren’t being completely fair to the billionaire.

**“It went great. Looks like it's gonna be an early Christmas.”**

**“Hey! Way to go, my boy! I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?”**

**“Why aren't you wearing those pajamas I got you?”**

**“Good night, Tony.”**

**The call ended and Tony entered the military vehicle. “Hey, Tony.” Rhodey approached him and talked to him through the open window.**

**“I'm sorry, this is the "fun-vee." The "hum-drum-vee" is back there.”**

“Ha! Wasn’t so fun after all, was it?”

Rhodey, Thor and Bruce exchanged concerned looks, all three of them dreading whatever they were going to see next. Vision kinda knew about the cave, he remembered Tony telling JARVIS about it. Steve and Wanda had no clue whatsoever of what was about to happen and the SHIELD agents only knew what Tony had told them and was now part of his file, which was only the basics. 

**“Nice job.”**

**“See you back at base.”**

Fury, under the mask of indifference, was getting nervous. He was going to see what had happened to his nephew in that cave. 


	5. The cave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The avengers find out what exactly happened in Afghanistan.

**The screen shows the vehicle exploding again, followed by Tony on a stretcher, surrounded by people that one might assume are doctors, screaming as they perform a surgery on him.**

“You were awake?!”, screeched Sam.

“What the actual fuck? What- the- actual- fuck?” Clint muttered to himself.

Wanda had her eyes wide open in shock. “Oh my god, I think I’m gonna be sick”

_ How can they do that to another human being?,  _ thought Steve while trying to keep the tears at bay. 

Tony had his eyes closed. He was breathing hard and silent tears were rolling down his face. Bruce, who was shaking with anger and felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest, wrapped the man in his arms and hid his face in his neck, giving him a soft kiss there and murmuring nonsense to calm him down. 

Rhodey and Thor noticed and, trying to hide their own tears, joined in the confort squeezing a hand or a knee, just to make sure Tony knew they were there for him.

Natasha and Maria hadn’t said a word, lost in thought and clenching their fists, a murderous feeling crawling inside them.

Now Fury, he was the one that surprised them all. He got up from his seat, he knelt in front of Tony, who by this point was on Bruce's lap, and said, “I’m so sorry kid, you should’ve never gone through that.”

Everyone but the genius' close friends were shocked, but Tony just jumped into the spy’s arms.

Vision was looking at everything with an expression of deep hurt. He knew what had happened in that cave, but seeing it was something completely different.

Once everyone returned to their places, no one dared say a thing, they were too upset to be able to talk or question the relationship between Nick and Tony.

**Tony woke up with a tube in his nose, which he immediately removed.**

“No! Don’t do that!”

“Ugh, that’s gross”

**Beside him was a glass of water, but when he tried to grab it, it fell to the floor. Looking around, Tony realized that he was not alone, but that there was a man shaving in front of a mirror. He tried to reach out further to grab the glass but was stopped by some cables connected to him.**

“What’s that? What is he connected to?” Asked the Captain a little wary, dreading the answer. 

Tony flinched at the memory.  _ Yeah, that wasn’t fun. _

**“ I wouldn't do that if I were you,” said the man. Turning to the other side of the bed, he noticed that he was connected to a car battery.**

“A car battery! What the hell man, that’s barbaric!” Shouted Sam, having trouble to contain his anger. He couldn’t understand how someone could be so damn cruel.

“They- they had you hooked up to a battery. What- How could they- I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” whispered Bruce in Tony’s ear, his voice cracking a little.

Seeing that his boyfriend was clearly distressed by what they were watching, Tony kissed his cheek and laid his head on his shoulder. He could freak out later, the worst footage was now over and Bruce needed him.

**Desperate, panicked, and scared, Tony ripped the bandages that wrapped around his chest only to find a rusty metal ring connected to the wires.**

“The rust on that thing! How the hell didn't you get an infection?”

“Calm down, Brucie-bear. I’m okay now, that’s what matters. Besides, I don’t really remember if I got an infection. Maybe I did, I don’t know.”

“How can you not now if you got an infection or not?” Asked Wanda.

“Well, I was kinda busy with the hole in my chest, trying to survive the terrorists and escape that place while dealing with the pain that comes with an open heart surgery in a cave in the middle of a desert,” said Tony coldly, which seemed to shut the witch.

**The man is shown cooking something on a small fire while Tony is inspecting the thing on his chest using a mirror.**

**“What the hell did you do to me?”**

**“What I did? What I did is to save your life. I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there's a lot left, and it's headed into your atrial septum. Here, want to see?” He showed him a little bottle with shrapnel on it. “I have a souvenir. Take a look.” The man tossed the bottle to Tony. “I've seen many wounds like that in my village. We call them the walking dead because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs.”**

“You had all that in your chest?” Asked Rhodey with sad eyes.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s part of it. There’s some pieces he couldn't reach.”

“I must say, the man did an impressive job considering the circumstances you were in,” said Vision.

**“What is this?”**

**“That is an electromagnet, hooked up to a car battery, and it's keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart. Hmm?”**

“What?! You still had shrapnel in your chest in 2012?” Asked Steve, starting to feel the beginnings of guilt.

“Steve, are you really that oblivious? Didn't you read his file? Why do you think he had the arc reactor? To use as a flashlight?” Snapped Natasha surprising everyone.

**Tony zipped up the jacket he was wearing and looked at the camera on the ceiling** **_. “_ ** **That's right. Smile. We met once, you know, at a technical conference in Bern.”**

**“I don't remember.”**

**“No, you wouldn't. If I had been that drunk, I wouldn't have been able to stand, much less give a lecture on integrated circuits.”**

Thor laughed, “I do not know a mortal that can hold their liquor like friend Tony.”

“You gave a lecture while you were drunk?” Steve looked at him frowning.

“That’s awesome,” said Clint impressed.

**“Where are we?”**

**Loud voices sounded from the other side of the metal door as they opened it.**

**“Come on, stand up. Stand up! Just do as I do. Come on, put your hands up,” said the man.**

“Wait, what’s happening?” Asked Wanda feeling lost.

**Men walked in with guns. “Those are my guns. How did they get my guns?”**

The witch let out a snort, “You’re telling me you didn’t know? Really?”

“Yes, I really didn’t. So maybe you can shut up and watch. That way, and if I’m lucky, you can stop blaming me for everything that went wrong in your life,” said Tony glaring at her.

“Hey, don’t talk to her like that,” said Clint, ready to defend the girl.

“Whatever”

**“** **Do you understand me? Do as I do,” said the man. A man started speaking in Arabic. His ‘cellmate’ translated for him. “He says, ‘Welcome, Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America’. He is honored. He wants you to build the missile. The Jericho missile that you demonstrated. The terrorist handed a picture of the Jericho missile. “This one.”**

“Say yes, just say yes Tones,” he could hear Rhodey muttering under his breath making him wince thinking about his answer.

**“I refuse”**

“No! You idiot! You don’t refuse when a terrorist asks you to do something!”

“I know, Maria. Believe me. But I was too put out by the fact they already had weapons I had created, I didn’t want to give them the Jericho.”

**Tony then is with his head in a large thing of water. Flashes of himself and the electromagnet in his chest are shown.**

**“Tony!” Pepper is heard as a voice in his head as he tries not to drown.**

**The men pull him out, put a bag over his head, and escort him out of the cave.**

“You heard her voice?” Asked Bruce softly in his ear. 

Tony nodded. “I knew I loved her, I just didn’t know it was in a romantic way. She was one of the few people I had in my life at the time.”

The others pretended like they didn’t hear what they were saying, even though they had questions. A lot of them. Mostly, what the hell was going on between the two scientists. They had always been close, but they’d never been so touchy feely.

**Tony saw a lot of men, tents, and his guns. The same man speaking Arabic before spoke again.**

**“He wants to know what you think,” translated the bald man.**

**“I think you got a lot of my weapons.”**

**The man translated Tony's words into Arabic. The same man speaking Arabic responded.**

**“He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile. He wants you to make the list of materials. He says for you to start working immediately, and when you're done, he will set you free.”**

**Tony shaked the arabic man’s hand with a smile.**

**“No, he won't.”**

“You can’t build that for them! They’d kill thousands of people!”

“Wow, Rogers. I knew you thought the worst of me, but really? You actually think I would build a weapon of mass destruction for a bunch of terrorists? That’s great, just great.”

“Steve, don’t you know what happened in that cave? And I mean the basics, cause everyone knows Tony escaped the place blowing everything up,” said Natasha.

The captain looked a bit ashamed but said nothing, making the genius want to punch him in the face.

“Shh, it’s okay. He’s gonna realize sooner or later that he’s an asshole.”

**Tony and the man are sitting around a small fire in the cave. “I'm sure they're looking for you, Stark. But they will never find you in these mountains. Look, what you just saw, that is your legacy, Stark. Your life's work, in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you want to go out? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?”**

“Hell yes, that’s the motivational speech of every hero origin story!”

**“Why should I do anything? They're going to kill me, you, either way. And if they don't, I'll probably be dead in a week.”**

“Oh, Tones…”

Everyone was speechless. They had never seen Tony so defeated, so hopeless. That glint of mischief and brilliance that was always in his brown eyes was gone. It felt like a punch in the gut.

They were all aware that Tony Stark was an important part of their team, even if they didn’t like admitting that. He was the one that gave the team the energy and the fun to continue fighting even when they were losing, but the Tony on the screen had none of that, and it broke their hearts.

On the other side of the room, Nick Fury felt like he was watching the 21 year-old Tony Stark that had just lost his parents, and it filled him with sadness. 

**“Well, then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it? Hm?”**

They all smiled seeing how a determined expression slowly appeared in Tony’s face. A little fire growing in his eyes.

It had been awful watching him at a point so low in his life, and they were all starting to think that maybe they didn’t know the real Tony Stark, but they sure as hell wanted to. 


	6. Planning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony starts planning his escape.

**Tony was directing the men to where to put things while the other man was translating. “If this is going to be my workstation, I want it well-lit. I want these up. I need welding gear. I don't care if it's acetylene or propane. I need a soldering station. I need helmets. I'm gonna need goggles. I would like a smelting cup. I need two sets of precision tools.”**

Everyone in the room was fascinated by Tony's change in attitude. He had been so hopeless, so downcast. But now, he had taken control of a cave full of terrorists that he was bossing around like it was an everyday thing.

"You don't do things by halves, do you Stark?" Sam asked amused.

"It's always the same with him, always wanting to command and be in control," Steve whispered, earning him glares from those who heard him - meaning Rhodey and Fury.

Bruce's eyes were shining as he watched as his boyfriend took charge of the situation after being so down. "I think it's brilliant!" He said beaming.

**The man and Tony started taking apart the weapons. “How many languages do you speak?”**

**“A lot. But apparently, not enough for this place. They speak Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farsi, Russian,” he answered.**

"That's a lot," Wanda said.

Tony, curious, asked Thor, "You're understanding everything they're saying, right? What with the allspeak and what-not."

The god nodded, "I cannot explain how it works, it is something we have since birth, not a skill we learn."

"But do you listen to things as they are and understand them or do you hear what we say in your native language?"

"I hear you in your own language. You have a nice voice my friend."

The genius blushed at this and Rhodey laughed, "See, you can say that ‘cause you never had to share a room with him."

**“Who are these people?” Asked Tony while working on one of his weapons.**

**“They are your loyal customers, sir. They call themselves the Ten Rings.”**

_ Ten Rings? I think I heard about them somewhere. Weren’t they working for Hydra?  _ Thought Steve.  _ Was Tony kidnapped by Hydra then? Just like Bucky? _

**The men of the Ten Rings are shown watching Tony and Yinsen work on a TV.**

**“You know, we might be more productive if you include me in the planning process,” said the man.**

“Fat chance. When he's working Tony goes to another world. You can only work with him if he wants you to work with him. If he thinks he's the only capable of doing it then you're just gonna be sitting besides him watching. "

"That's true. Although I can't complain, I'm almost the same," Bruce commented.

Vision, who noticed the judging glances from Clint, Wanda and Steve, explained, "Mr. Stark's brain usually works differently than the average human. So when working, even if he wanted help, the person should be on his level or would be the same as nothing. "

**“Uh-huh.” Tony pulled apart a missile. “Okay, we don't need this,” he said, throwing something.**

**“What is that?”**

**“That's palladium, 0.15 grams. We need at least 1.6, so why don't you go break down the other 11?”**

Everyone who knew about the incident with the palladium, flinched, causing the others to look at them weird.

"Isn't palladium poisonous to humans?" Clin asked, surprising everyone. "What? I read."

"Yes, large amounts of palladium in a human are not good," Fury said, glancing at Tony from the corner of his eye. He knew it had happened years ago, but the images of his nephew's chest affected by the palladium were etched in his mind.

**One of the men watching the security camera asked, “What's he doing?”**

**“Working.”**

“How thick can you get?” Said Hill.  _ If I was their boss they’d been all fired the second day at work. _

**Tony and his cellmate were working on something. The man pulled something out of the fire making the genius anxiously say, “Careful. Careful, we only get one shot at this.”**

**“Relax. I have steady hands. Why do you think you're still alive?”**

“He really did an impressive job giving the precarious situation,” said Natasha, making everyone nod in agreement.

**“What do I call you?” Asked Tony without taking his eyes from what he was working on.**

**“My name is Yinsen.”**

**“Yinsen. Nice to meet you.”**

**“Nice to meet you, too.”**

"You were locked up together for I don't know how long and you never even asked his name ?!"

He snapped, "Oh, I'm so sorry, Rogers, I'm sorry I forgot about that detail. I was just busy recovering from open heart surgery, being kidnapped by terrorists, tormented, and having to walk around with a battery in order to not die. So yeah, you're right. I should've have asked his name as soon as I woke up. "

Steve turned white and looked down in embarrassment. Tony huffed. He only relaxed when he felt Bruce's soft, discreet caresses on his back.

**Tony put together a device that started glowing while Yinsen watched. “Whoa. That doesn't look like a Jericho missile.”**

“Is that-”

**“That's because it's a miniaturized arc reactor. I got a big one powering my factory at home. It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart.”**

“Holy fuck! You built the first reactor in the cave? What the hell, man? How did you even do that?” Asked Sam completely shocked.

“You do know the ‘genius’ part when I introduce myself is not for nothing, right?”

The falcon laughed, “Yeah, I knew that. But one thing is knowing and the other is having proof.” 

**“But what could it generate?”**

**“If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second.”**

**“That could run your heart for 50 lifetimes.”**

**“Yeah. Or something big for 15 minutes.”**

“Damn,” said Fury under his breath.

Smirking, Tony looked at him and said, “I’m not giving you the schematics of the reactor, Nick.”

He snorted, “As if I wanted them.”

“You do want them, and I know that because I have like seven texts from you asking about them,” he said grinning, with mischief dancing in his eyes.

“Shut up, brat.”

The exchange made Team Cap raise their eyebrows in surprise. They’d never seen the director doing something as human as bantering before.

**Yinsen and Tony were both looking at sheets of paper. “This is our ticket out of here.”**

**“What is it?”**

**“Flatten them out and look.” Yinsen flattened the sheets out to see a drawing of a metal suit.**

**“Oh, wow. Impressive.”**

“That’s so cool,” breathed Clint. 

Steve perked up, “Did you really draw that? It’s really good.”

“Of course I draw that, how do you think I do the designs of the things I build?”

“I knew you could draw, I just didn’t know you were that good.”

Tony nodded accepting the compliment, tired of fighting with Captain douchebag. 

**The security footage showed that the arc reactor was successfully put in Tony, allowing him more freedom of movement without having to carry the car battery around.**

“That must’ve been a relief,” said Maria.

“It was. The battery kept giving me shocks depending on how I moved or how I held it. Sleeping was a total nightmare."

Everyone grimaced at imagining what it would be like to be in that situation, and while everyone was distracted by it, Bruce gave Tony a little kiss on the shoulder and whispered, "I'm so glad you're okay. I hate to see this, see everything you had to go through. Even though I already knew all this, seeing it is different.”

“It’s okay, I’m fine now. See?” He said placing one of Bruce’s hands where his heart was beating energetically. “All good.” He noticed his boyfriend frown a little when he felt the large scar on his chest and sent a glare Steve’s way. “I swear I’m fine, babe. No need to worry.”

**Tony and Yinsen were playing a game. “Good. Good roll. Good roll.”**

**“You still haven't told me where you're from,” asked Tony.**

**“I'm from a small town called Gulmira. It's actually a nice place.”**

Natasha, Clint and Maria’s eyes widened.

“Wait, didn’t something happen there a while ago? I think I saw something in the news,” said Sam.

**“Got a family?”**

**“Yes, and I will see them when I leave here. And you, Stark?”**

**He seemed to think for a second, but at the end, he answered, “No.”**

**“No? So you're a man who has everything and nothing.”**

Everyone's hearts broke a bit upon hearing that. To think that Tony - who was larger than life, who illuminated every room he entered and who everyone loved or at least appreciated - felt that way made them feel horrible.

"I didn't really think that way," Tony said in a small voice. "But it was easier to think that Pepper, Rhodey, Nick and my aunt thought me dead than to get the illusion that they were looking for me even after so long."

_ Aunt?  _ some thought. Most of them didn't know much about Tony's life and family. And what they did know was usually what they read in magazines.

"You are part of a family, friend Tony. You are my shield brother, and my people already consider you one of us. You have lots of people by your side. Even my brother likes you."

Thinking about the weird friendship he had formed with Loki made him smile softly.

"Damn right, you know that I'll always be there for you, Tones. I don't even have to think about it. Wherever you go, I'll follow you."

"I've been by your side for years, kid, that’s not gonna change any time soon," said Fury, looking at him with pride in his eyes.

Overwhelmed by emotions, Tony tried to hold back his tears. Another smile escaped when his boyfriend's voice whispered in his ear, "Science bros stay together. Whatever it takes. I'm not gonna leave you, love."

Closing his eyes, Tony thought,  _ maybe watching these movies wasn't so bad _ **_._ **


	7. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets out of the cave.

**The men of the Ten Rings came to the door, armed. They opened the hatch to see Tony and Yinsen working before turning around and leaving. The screen showed Tony welding metal together.**

“You would be a brilliant blacksmith, my friend,” said Thor with a soft smile.

“Thanks, big guy.”

**Ten Rings watched the cameras and compared what he was creating with the Jericho picture.**

**"It doesn't look anything like the picture," said one.**

**"Maybe it's been modified," replied the other.**

**"The tail is wrong."**

**"It's just backwards."**

Chuckling, Sam said, "They're not very bright, are they?”

"Thank god they weren't, it ended up working in my favor."

**The head of the Ten Rings, Raza, watched Tony and Yinsen test out one of the legs of the suit. He and his men went to visit them.**

"Oh shit, that's not good," muttered Rhodey.

**"Relax," said Raza motioning for the two men to remove their hands from above their heads. They did as he said, "The bow and arrow once was the pinnacle of weapons technology."**

"Was ?! Ex-fucking-cuse me, the bow and arrow are great weapons," complained Clint making everyone laugh.

**"It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine. An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great and four times the size of the Roman Empire. But today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons rules these lands. And soon , it will be my turn. " He started speaking in Urdu as he stared down Tony. "Why have you failed me?"**

With wide eyes, Maria asked Tony, “Shit, did they finally notice?”

“No spoilers. Keep watching.”

**"We're working. Diligently," Yinsen said in Urdu.**

**Raza turned and walked towards him. "I let you live. This is how you repay me?"**

**"It's very complex. He's trying very hard."**

**"On his knees," I have commanded his men from him in Urdu. "You think I'm a fool? I'll get the truth," he said as he took a coal from the dying fire.**

"No! Leave him alone, he didn't do anything wrong," Wanda said with a subtle trace of panic that only Vision detected.

**"We're both working."**

**"Open your mouth."**

**Tony, noticing that something was wrong, asked, "What does he want?"**

"You must have felt quite helpless without being able to understand what they were saying," Steve commented without the usual disapproval.

He nodded, "I did, I always feel helpless when I don't understand something and nobody wants to explain what happens to me. It doesn't happen often, but it happens."

**"You think I'm a fool? What's going on? Tell me the truth." Race forced Yinsen's head to lay on the table.**

**"He's building your Jericho. He's building your Jericho."**

Everyone was glued to the screen, imagining the worst. Everyone knew that Yinsen had not survived, or at least they imagined it, since they had never heard of him until today. ****

**Pretending to be calm, Tony said "What do you want? A delivery date?" I've tried to get close to Yinsen but the other men pull their guns on him. "I need him. Good assistant."**

**"You have till tomorrow to assemble my missile."**

Sighs of relief filled the room and a tiny smile escaped Tony.  _ Trust Yinsen making even one of the world's most skilled assassins take a liking to him. _

**Tony is shown hammering the helmet of the suit to shape it. He cooled it in water before setting it on the table in front of Yinsen.**

"Damn, Stark. I'm impressed."

Smirking, Bruce whispered to him, "You look hot while you work." Flushed, Tony had to cover his face to hide the pink on his cheeks.

**The scene changed. Tony was wrapping his hands up and Yinsen lifting the suit up. Yinsen helped Tony suit up.**

**"Okay? Can you move? Okay, say it again."**

**"41 steps straight ahead. Then 16 steps, that's from the door, fork right, 33 steps, turn right."**

"Did you memorize the way, having gone out only once?" Asked Natsha, raising an eyebrow.

Tony nodded.

"Believe it or not, we came close to convincing him to be a SHIELD agent when he graduated from MIT," Fury said, slightly amused at the reactions of the others.

"What? Why?" Steve asked, frowning.

"Because he has all the qualities necessary to be an agent, Rogers. He just needs the training."

"Why did you refuse?"

"I'm just not the James Bond type."

**Raza noticed that Tony was not seen on the cameras and ordered two of his men to go investigate.**

"They finally noticed. How the hell did you manage to go unnoticed until then?"

"We took turns working from the blind spot, we had a schedule."

**One of the men banged on the door yelling, "Yinsen! Yinsen! Stark!"**

**"Say something. Say something back to him."**

**"He's speaking Hungarian. I don't-"**

**"Then speak Hungarian," Tony said in a panic.**

"Tony! Would it hurt you to be a little nicer?"

"Oh sorry Captain Politeness, next time I'm in a high stress situation I'm going to make sure to be nice and not panic. Thanks for the advice," he snapped.

"Okay. I know," said Yinsen.

"What do you know?"

**The men were shouting through the door while Yinsen was shouting something back at them. The door was shown to have an explosive on it. The men tried to open the door, only for it to explode. Race watched this all on camera and ordered his men down there.**

"How did you manage to make the suit and that explosive?"

"Uh, that explosive was a last minute thing. I did it with what we had left over from some weapons. It wasn't much but at least it delayed them," Tony shrugged.

Sam gaped at him. _ A last minute thing, he says. What the hell? He really doesn't understand how astounding he is. I guess Steve was really fucking wrong about him. _

**"Initialize the power sequence."**

**"OK."**

**"Now!"**

**"Tell me. Tell me."**

**"Function 11. Tell me when you see a progress bar. It should be up right now."**

**"And it is."**

**"Talk to me. Tell me when you see it."**

**"I have it."**

"That's a very old computer. Like, 'dinosaur era' kind of old."

**"We worked with what we could."**

**"Press Control 'l'"**

**"Got it."**

**"'I' and 'Enter.' Come over here and button me up. "**

**"They're coming!" Yinsen said in alarm as he finished buttoning the suit up.**

**"Nothing pretty, just get it done. Just get it done."**

**"They're coming."**

**"Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?"**

**"We need more time. Hey, I'm gonna go buy you some time."**

**"Stick to the plan! Stick to the plan!" Yinsen ran out of the cave with a gun from one of the dead men. "Yinsen! Yinsen!" Tony yelled desperately.**

With looks of pain, the avengers knew Yinsen wasn't going to come out of it unscathed. Tony, starting to shake, just sank closer to Bruce's side, who rubbed soft circles on his hand.

**Tony watched the progress bar move while Yinsen aimlessly shoots the cave walls as he ran, scarring the men.**

"Could that move slower? Yinsen needs help" Wanda muttered.

**Yinsen was stopped when he reached the mouth of the cave and a group of men.**

Nobody dared to speak, it was obvious that the man had no way out.

**The progress bar finished loading, causing the lights to dim, and the suit to be powered. More men arrived in the cave to get Tony. But, with the suit ready, I have attacked them. On his way out of the cave, he took out more men without even a scratch on his suit. Race was waiting at the mouth of the cave.**

“Fuck,” said Steve under his breath.

**Tony arrived to see that Yinsen had been shot. "Yinsen!"**

**"Watch out!" He said as Race tried to shoot at Tony but missed. The genius shot back, hitting the wall behind, causing a mini explosion and knocking Race out.**

"That's what you deserve, you fucking fucking terrorist," said Rhodey, who with each passing minute felt more anger and guilt building up inside him.

**"Stark."**

**"Come on," said Tony, opening his helmet. "We got to go. Move for me, come on. We got a plan. We're gonna stick to it."**

**"This was always the plan, Stark."**

Maria covered her mouth with her hand. She usually wasn't a person to show her emotions, but she couldn't help it. On the other hand, Fury had to close his eyes to calm himself down. He hated seeing Tony looking so broken.

**"Come on, you're gonna go see your family. Get up."**

**"My family is dead. I'm going to see them now, Stark. It's okay. I want this. I want this."**

Tears fell down the cheeks of Tony, who had gone from being next to Bruce - who was also crying - to being on his lap, hiding his face on his chest.

Thor sniffed without shame, used to wearing his emotions on his sleeve. Vision and Steve looked extremely sad, while Steve and Wanda looked at the ground. The four spies just kept staring stoically at the screen, organizing their feelings in their heads.

**"Thank you for saving me."**

**"Don't waste it. Don't waste your life."**

Steve remembered Erskine. The similarities were enormous, and the Captain's heart twisted painfully at the memories along with what they were watching.

**Yinsen died and Tony looked murderous as he walked outside.**

"Shit, that looks intimidating as hell. I wouldn't want to be one of those poor idiots," Clint said.

It was the first time that they could really appreciate the first suit, and yes, it was intimidating, but it was nothing compared to that look that crossed Tony's face. He was unsettling, everyone had seen him angry, but the thirst for revenge in the eyes of his friend shocked them.

Even Steve was surprised, and he was the one who had been on the other side of such a look not long ago.

**There were men waiting outside of the mouth of the cave. They all shoot at Tony in the suit, but didn't do any damage.**

**"My turn," he said as he shot fire at the men and their camp. The men continued to shoot at Tony, beginning to cause damage to the suit. Tony flips a suit and shoots up in the air.**

"It shoots flames and it flies too? You don't do anything by halves, do you Stark?"

That seemed to defuse the tension a bit, eliciting soft giggles from some of them.

**Tony screamed as he fell into the sand on the other side of the mountains. The suit broke when he landed.**

"Ouch", they all winced.

**"Not bad."**

"Not bad? You crazy sonofabitch, have you just escaped from a terrorist group in a suit that you made with a box of scraps, which, it should be clarified, you made it fly, and you dare to say 'not bad'?" Rhodey yelled.

Muffling his laugh in Bruce's chest, Tony said, "What did you want me to say, Platypus? 'Yay! What a great landing, let’s do it again!'?"

His best friend shook his head in frustration, "You're unbelievable."

**Tony then is seen wandering through the desert, exhausted. Military helicopters fly up from behind him.**

**"Hey!" He waved down the helicopters. "Hey!"**

**As one of the helicopters landed, Tony collapsed to his knees, holding up a peace sign.**

"How long have you been walking in the desert?"

"I don't know, after a few hours I lost the concept of time."

**Rhodey and a few men are seen running up to Tony from the helicopter.**

**"How was the" fun-vee "?" He asked, kneeling before his friend with glassy eyes. "Next time, you ride with me, okay?" Tony smiled and they clung to each other.**

Everyone smiled and clapped at the scene. Rhodey stole Tony from Bruce and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner. I'm so sorry, Tones."

"You have nothing to feel sorry for. It's okay. We're okay."


	8. Press conference

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The avengers watch the iconic conference

**The California Military Base appeared on the screen, where a giant plane just landed. Medical, Happy and Pepper are waiting there. The ramp went down and Rhodey helped Tony down.**

**"Watch it, coming up here."**

**"Are you kidding me with this? Get rid of them." Tony walked up to Pepper. "Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?"**

**"Tears of joy. I hate job hunting."**

"Adorable. Seriously."

**"Yeah, vacation's over."**

**Tony, Pepper, and Happy got into the car.**

**"Where to, sir?" Asked Happy.**

**"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy."**

**"No."**

**"No? Tony, you have to go to the hospital," said Pepper in exasperation.**

"She's right. Why are you being so difficult?" Steve asked, shaking his head.

"Dude, think about it. If a doctor checked on him he would find the reactor and it would trigger more problems. That thing is almost a scientific miracle."

Bruce and Vision nodded, looking at Sam curiously. Both thinking that he could fit in well in his group of friends. That is if he set aside his blind loyalty to Captain America.

**"No is a complete answer."**

**"The doctor has to look at you."**

**"I don't have to do anything. I've been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger, and the other ..."**

**"That's enough of that."**

They all laughed knowing exactly what Pepper was referring to.

**"... is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now."**

**"Call for a press conference?"**

**"Yeah."**

"Oh, this is THE conference, right?" Asked Sam.

"Damn right it is," Tony said with a smug smile.

"I didn't know it was so sudden. You didn't have to consider it much from the looks of it," Maria commented.

The genius winced, "It wasn't the best decision, strategically speaking, but considering what we discovered later, it was a good decision."

**"What on earth for?"**

**"Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first."**

"That's your thing, Tones. Did you ever notice? Every time you come back from a battle where you almost died the first thing you ask for is food. And if it's a cheeseburger even better," said Rhodey amused.

**Happy drove them up to Stark Industries HQ, where Obadiah was waiting with the press and their employees.**

**"Look at this! Tony. We were going to meet at the hospital," said the older man.**

**"No, I'm fine."**

**"Look at you! You had to have a burger, yeah?"**

"I'm telling you man, it's a thing."

**"Well, come on."**

**"You get me one of those?" Asked Obadiah.**

"Friend Tony just escaped after being kidnapped in a cave for three months, he is not going to give you his food."

Tony smiled at Thor, "Boy, you know me so well."

**"There's only one left. I need it."**

**Inside the building, a man approaches Pepper. "Miss Potts?"**

"Coulson!" Steve, Clint, and Thor said in unison.

Sam and Wanda looked on in confusion while the SHIELD agents simply smirked.

"Uh, his first name is agent," Tony said, making Bruce laugh.

**"Yes."**

**"Can I speak to you for a moment?"**

**"I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now."**

**"I'm not a reporter. I'm Agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."**

"Is that the meaning behind the acronym?" Wanda asked.

Vision nodded and said, "Looks like someone really wanted to spell SHIELD."

At this, everyone laughed and Tony, with a twinkle in his eye, said, "That comment just confirms that you’re one of my kids. I'm so proud."

"One of your kids? Are you telling me you have more?" Steve asked with his eyebrows almost touching his hairline.

"By now he can probably form a small army of both robotic and human children," said Bruce, looking fondly at the genius. He did not explain more, leaving the subject there and filling Team Cap with curiosity.

**"That's quite a mouthful."**

**With a smile, Coulson said, "I know. We're working on it."**

**"You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA-" Pepper listed, clearly annoyed.**

"Wait, really? The FBI and the CIA? And you weren't Iron Man yet," said Clint.

"It wasn't the first time they got close to us either. They're a pain in the ass, just like SHIELD."

**"We're a separate division with a more specific focus. We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape from him," he explained.**

**"I'll put something in the book, shall I?"**

**"Thank you."**

"You're not going to give in to that debrief easily, are you?" Natasha asked.

  
  


"Not in the least," Tony said with a shit-eating grin. Bruce and Rhodey snickered while Fury and Hill sighed.

**Once all the reporters were located, Obadiah said, "Well, let's get this started, uh ..."**

**Tony, hamburger in hand, took the stage. "Hey, would it be all right if everyone sat down?" He asked as he did exactly that. "Why don't you just sit down? That way you can see me, and I can- A little less formal and-" Tony took a bite of his cheeseburger as everyone sat, or squatted, down. Everyone was confused by his attitude.**

"I can't believe these people listen to you when you're asking for something as degrading as sitting on the floor. They're professionals, Stark," Wanda said, earning a disappointed look from Vision.

"Be careful how you talk to Mr. Stark," he said.

"It's okay, Viz, she can tell me whatever she wants. I'm past the point where I care what she thinks." The android nodded. "And what did I tell you about calling me Mr. Stark? I'm Tony. Or dad. Whatever you prefer," he added with a teasing smile.

"Very well, Tony."

**"What's up with the love-in?" Rhodey asked Pepper.**

**"Don't look at me. I don't know what he's up to."**

“We were so damn confused, man. You have no idea.”

**"Good to see you," said Tony to Obadiah.**

**"Good to see you."**

**With a thoughtful look, Tony said softly, "I never got to say goodbye to Dad."**

Steve flinched at that, making Sam, Wanda, and Clint look weird at him. Everyone assumed it was because he used to be friends with Howard, but Natasha became suspicious and she did not like the theories that occurred to her.

**"I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what this company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability. "**

Everyone was silent, hanging on every word that came out of the Tony on screen. Most of them had already seen the conference, but there was something in the air that did not allow them to interrupt the moment.

**Taking advantage of the small silence, a reporter said, "Mr. Stark!"**

**"Hey Ben."**

**"What happened over there?"**

Tony and everyone else flinched at the memory of the events in the cave.

**"I had my eyes opened." Tony stood and moved behind the podium. "I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International-" Everyone jumped up in commotion. "-until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be."**

Thor clapped loudly. Bruce, with a proud smile, joined him, and Rhodey along with the SHIELD agents followed suit, making the genius blush.

**"I think we're gonna be selling a lot of newspapers," muttered Obadiah standing up beside Tony, who was ending his speech from him.**

**"-what direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well." Tony left the stage for** **the older man to take.**

**"What we should take away from this is that Tony's back! And he's healthier than ever."**

Bruce scoffed at that. "Healthier than ever, of-fucking-course he's not healthy after spending 3 months in a freacking cave you stupid idiot."

Tony, a little amused at his boyfriend's outburst, took his hand and caressed it until the slight green that had appeared on his face was gone.

Closing his eyes and enjoying the contact, the scientist whispered, "I hate him, Tones. I hate how much he made you suffer."

"I know, sweetheart. I know. I hate him too."

**"We're going to have a little internal discussion and we'll get back to you with the follow-up."**

"Huh, that's not going to be a good chat."


	9. New arc reactor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obadiah has a chat with Tony and Pepper changes the reactor.

**Obadiah was shown on a Segway, riding up to one of the Stark buildings. He asked Happy, who was leaning against a car outside, where Tony was, and then entered the building following the instructions. Inside, Tony was staring at the giant arc reactor.**

"Holy hell, that's big," said Clint.

"Well, it did power the whole factory."

**"Well, that..uh ... That went well," said Obadiah.**

**"Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?"**

**"Your head? What about my head? What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?"**

**"Uh, optimistically, 40 points."**

"Ouch."

"I still can't believe how you recovered from that blow," Natasha said.

"And now we're doing even better," Tony replied proudly.

"The new StarkPhone left the new iPhone in oblivion," Wanda commented, surprising everyone. "What? I may be a fugitive but I still keep up with the news."

**"At minimum."**

**"Yep."**

**Frustrated, the older man said, "Tony, we're a weapons manufacturer."**

**"Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our only legacy."**

Steve and Sam nodded in agreement.

**"That's what we do. We're ironmongers. We make weapons."**

**"It's my name on the side of the building."**

"I don't think he cares much about that, my friend," Thor muttered, patting him on the knee.

**"And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos."**

**"Not based on what I saw. We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We're gonna do something else," Tony said determinedly.**

"The issue was that the military didn't see it that way. You closing the weapons manufacturing section left them looking for another supplier, and you were the best. They didn't like that," explained Rhodey, half ashamed of having been part of that group.

Tony sighed, "I know, but it was the right thing to do. I couldn't go on like that. Plus, I'm sure Hammer was delighted with how my company went to hell and the military went looking for him."

Nat, Rhodey, Bruce and Fury laughed at that, all aware of how the situation with Hammer had ended.

**"Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?" Obadiah said sarcastically.**

**"I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology."**

**He laughed, "Ah, come on. The arc reactor, that's a publicity stunt! Tony, come on. We built that thing to shut the hippies up."**

**"It works."**

**"Yeah, as a science project. The arc was never cost effective. We knew that before we built it. Arc reactor technology, that's a dead end, right?"**

**"That's a lousy poker face right there," said Sam.**

Maria looked at him, "He knows, doesn't he?" Tony nodded seriously.

**"Maybe."**

**"Huh? Am I right? We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what? Thirty years."**

**"That's what they say. Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me, who told you?" Tony said discovering the lie.**

**"Never mind who told me. Show me."**

**"It's Rhodey or Pepper."**

**"I want to see it."**

**"Okay, Rhodey."**

Rhodey frowned, "It wasn't me, man."

"Then who? Cause it wasn't Pep-", an image of the Ten Rings passed through his head. "Oh. Yeah, nevermind. I know who it was. I'm sorry I thought it was you, Platypus."

"It's okay."

**Tony opened his shirt to show Obadiah the reactor in his chest.**

"Okay," Obadiah said, beginning to button Tony's shirt back up.

"Okay? It works."

**"Listen to me, Tony," the older man put one of his arms around the genius. "We're a team. Do you understand?"**

"This man creeps me out," Wanda whispered.

**"There's nothing we can't do if we stick together, like your father and I."**

**"I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads-up, okay? But if I had ..." said Tony moving away from Obadiah a bit.**

**"Tony. Tony, no more of this" ready, fire, aim "business. You understand me?"**

**"That was Dad's line."**

"You looked really uncomfortable," Bruce said quietly as he squeezed his hand a little more intensely seeing Obadiah so close to his boyfriend.

"Because I was. I hated that he put Dad in every sentence that came out of his mouth."

**"You gotta let me handle this. We're gonna have to play a whole different kind of ball now. We're going to have to take a lot of heat. I want you to promise me that you're gonna lay low. "**

Clint snorted, "Not likely."

"He actually listened to him and did a fairly good job at staying out of the public eye," Vision said, defending him.

**The scene changed and showed Stark Mansion, where Pepper was watching a shitty news show. "Pepper. How big are your hands?" Asked Tony from the** **intercom.**

"Tony!" said the Captain, scandalized.

He rolled his eyes at him, "It's not what you think. Jeez."

**"What?"**

**"How big are your hands?"**

**"I don't understand why ..."**

**"Get down here. I need you."**

"You have to admit it can be easily misunderstood," Hill commented.

**Pepper entered Tony's workshop to find Tony lying shirtless on a chair. "Hey. Let's see them. Show me your hands. Let's see them."**

**She held up her hands as she came closer. "Oh wow. They are small. Very petite, indeed. I just uh .. need your help for a sec."**

"Oh no, tell me you didn't," Bruce said deciphering what was about to happen.

Tony cringed, "I didn't have much of a choice. I couldn't do it myself."

**"Oh my God, is that the thing that's keeping you alive?"**

**"It was. It is now an antique. This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future. I'm swapping it up for an upgraded unit, and I just ran into a little speed bump."**

"Speed bump?" Fury said looking at him with a raised eyebrow. He didn't like where this was heading.

**"Speed bump, what does that mean?"**

**"It's nothing. It's just a little snag. There's an exposed wire under this device. And it's contacting the socket wall and causing a little bit of a short. It's** **fine."**

"It is not fine," Thor said with a worried look.

**Tony pulled out the old device, handing it to Pepper.**

"Shit, that's deep. How could you even breathe with that thing in your chest?" Asked Clint.

"My lungs have reduced capacity because of the reactor, but I got used to it."

**"What do you want me to do?" Asked Pepper.**

**"Put that on the table over there. That is irrelevant."**

**"Oh my God!" She did what he asked.**

**"I want you to reach in, and you're just gonna gently lift the wire out."**

"Oh no, please no. I don't want to see that," Rhodey said wide-eyed.

**“Is it safe?”**

**"Yeah, it should be fine. It's like Operation. You just don't let it touch the socket wall or it goes 'beep'."**

"This is not a game, it could have gone very wrong," Vision commented.

**"What do you mean, 'Operation'?"**

**"It's just a game, never mind. Just gently lift the wire."**

**"OK."**

**"Okay? Great."**

**She started to reach her hand over the socket but regretted it. "You know, I don't think that I'm qualified to do this."**

"That's because she's not."

**"No, you're fine. You're the most capable, qualified, trustworthy person I've ever met. You're gonna do great."**

They all gave an 'aww' at the scene and Tony blushed, making his boyfriend laugh and kiss his cheek.

**"Is it too much of a problem to ask? 'Cause I'm-"**

**"Okay, okay."**

**"I really need your help here."**

**"Okay." She slipped her hand into the hole in Tony's chest. "Oh, there's pus!"**

"What?!"

"Calm down, Brucie-bear. It wasn't pus," he said, patting him on the chest.

**"It's not pus. It's an inorganic plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body."**

"That's no better than pus!"

**"It smells!"**

"Oh my god, I can't watch this," Wanda said in disgust looking a little green.

**"Yeah, it does. The copper wire. The copper wire, you got it?"**

**"Okay, I got it! I got it!"**

**"Okay, you got it? Now, don't let it touch-" Pepper let it touch the side. "-the sides when you're coming out!"**

Everyone winced at the sound of the shock. They were tense, their eyes never leaving the screen. Logically, they knew that Tony was fine, but seeing him in that situation made them forget that fact for a second.

**"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."**

**"That's what I was trying to tell you before. Okay, now make sure that when you pull it out, that you don't-" Pepper pulled out the wire with the magnet** **attached and the medical equipment started beeping. "There's a magnet at the end of it! That was it. You just pulled it out."**

Steve went pale and whispered to himself, "That's the magnet that keeps the shrapnel at bay. Oh my god."

**"Oh God!"**

**"Okay, I was not expecting ..."**

**"Okay, what do I do?"**

**"Don't put it back in! Don't put it back in!"**

**"What's wrong?"**

**"Nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest-" said Tony acting casual.**

"Cardiac arrest ?! Tony! You said it was safe."

"It kinda was."

Rhodey smacked him on the head. "You're an idiot."

**"What? You said it was safe!"**

**"'cause you yanked it out like a trout ... We gotta hurry. Take this. Take this. You gotta switch it out really quick."**

**"Okay. Okay. Tony?"**

**"What?"**

**"It's going to be okay. Okay?"**

"No one cares! Just put the damn thing in its place!" yelled Sam, who seemed to be getting more and more invested in the 'movie'.

**"Is it?"**

**"It's gonna be okay. I'm gonna make this okay."**

"Oh my- For the love of god, woman. Just do it!" Fury said, making Tony snicker.

**"Let's hope. Okay, you're gonna attach that to the base plate. Make s-sure you-" He screamed when it attached.**

They all breathed a sigh of relief.

**"Was that so hard? That was fun, right? Here, I got it. I got it. Here. Nice." Tony took control and finished adjusting the reactor.**

**"Are you okay?"**

**"Yeah, I feel great. You okay?" Tony said and then started laughing.**

"You're crazy," Bruce told him with a soft smile.

**"Don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again."**

**"I don't have anyone but you."**

"Wow, that just got really serious real quick," Clint commented. Team Cap squirmed a little, not used to seeing the billionaire so honest and without his usual mask.

**"Anyway." Tony ripped on the wires and stood up.**

**"What do you want me to do with this?" Pepper asked, holding Tony's old reactor.**

**"That? Destroy it. Incinerate it."**

**"You don't want to keep it?"**

**"Pepper, I've been called many things. ‘Nostalgic’ is not one of them."**

Natasha nodded, "That's true."

"Not anymore," Tony muttered.

Bruce smirked knowingly and Thor said, "Tony has a wall in the workshop full of photos now. He even has one with my brother."

Steve, Natasha and Clint looked at them in disbelief.

"Hey, do you know what it cost me to get that single picture? I had to chase him for a week to convince him to take a selfie. So of course I'm gonna put it on my wall. It's a miracle. I even got Lokes to smile," he said, proud of his achievement.

_'Lokes? What the hell did we miss?' thought Clint._

**"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?"**

**"That will be all, Miss Potts."**

"That's your thing, isn't it?" said Sam.

"Yup, even now that we aren't together. It just always has been."

"It's cute," Wanda added.

**Tony turned to talk to his robot while he eyed Pepper as she walked away. "Hey, Butterfingers, come here. What's all this stuff doing on top of my desk? That's my phone, that's a picture of me and my dad. Right there. In the garbage. All that stuff."**

Watching Tony just throw the photo with his father in the trash, Steve couldn't help but wonder, _'What did you do, Howard? How did you hurt him? '_


	10. Mark II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone starts seeing Rhodey. Tony starts building the suit. Team Cap meets Dum-E.

**The Air Force Base appeared on screen, where Rhodes was guiding a group of people through the hanger.**

Rhodey winced at the memory of what had happened that day. If only he had taken Tony seriously.

**"The future of air combat. Is it manned or unmanned? I'll tell you, in my experience, no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever trump a pilot's instinct, his insight, that ability to look into a situation beyond the obvious and discern its outcome, or a pilot's judgment. "**

**Tony walked up to the group and said, "Colonel? Why not a pilot without the plane?"**

"You always have some dramatic phrase to start a conversation with, did you notice?"

"Yes, Clint, I'm aware of it. You three reminded me every day, repeatedly," Tony said quietly causing Steve, Natasha and Clint to look away.

**"Look who fell out of the sky. Mr. Tony Stark," Rhodey said with a smile on his face but also wariness in his gaze.**

**"Speaking of manned or unmanned, you gotta get him to tell you about the time he guessed wrong at spring break. Just remember that, spring break,** **1987\. That lovely lady you woke up with-"**

**Rhodey's eyes widened, "Don't do that!"**

**"What was his name?"**

**"Don't do that."**

**"Was it Ivan?"**

They all turned to see Rhodey, who just glared at Tony who was laughing out loud.

**"Don't do that. They'll believe it." The group was laughing at the interaction of the friends. "Don't do that."**

**"Okay. Pleasure meeting you," said the genius referring to the group.**

**"Give us a couple minutes, you guys," asked Rhodey. When he saw that they were alone, he said, "I'm surprised."**

“Why would you be surprised?” Asked Thor innocently.

**"Why?" Tony asked, confused.**

**"I swear, I didn't expect to see you walking around so soon."**

**"I'm doing a little better than walking."**

**Rhodey looked at him skeptically. "Really?"**

"You thought he had PTSD," Bruce said softly.

He nodded, "It was the first conclusion I came to. You don't spend three months in a cave and come out unaffected."

"You weren't too far from the truth. It only hit me after all this Iron Man mess was over, but it was mild. It was after New York that I really got it."

Natasha tried to keep her expression neutral during that conversation, but her mind was spinning. Tony couldn't possibly have PTSD. She would have noticed. When she made that report, she hadn't thought of that possibility. Could it be that she was wrong? That she did her job wrong?

**"Yeah. Rhodey, I'm working on something big. I came to talk to you. I want you to be a part of it."**

Sam looked away from the screen and asked curiously, "Were you already thinking of giving him a suit?"

"Not a suit, but if I wanted him to be aware and help me. My Platypus is extremely intelligent. Besides, he is a pilot, engineer and soldier, anyone would want help from him."

Team Cap was thoughtful upon hearing that. To be honest, no one had given Rhodey the opportunity to meet him, even less had they taken into account that there was more to him than 'Tony Stark's best friend', and they cursed themselves for being so blind.

**"You're about to make a whole lot of people around here real happy, 'cause that little stunt at the press conference, that was a doozy."**

Rhodey looked at the floor in shame. "I don't think like that anymore, Toones. I'm really sorry. I was a terrible friend."

Tony shook his head and leaned against his friend's shoulder. "Don't apologize for something I have forgiven you years ago. We're fine, and I understand why  you thought what you thought," after that statement, he hit him on the head.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"For saying bullshit like 'I was a terrible friend’,” he repeated mockingly. “ It just makes me question your intelligence."

"You say that all the time! Why can't I complain and you can?"

"Because that's life Rhodey, deal with it."

Chuckling, Bruce said, "Kids, kids, stop with your little fight and focus on the movie or we're going to spend five hours on something that should last two."

**"This is not for the military. I'm not- It's different."**

**"What? You're a humanitarian now or something?"**

**"I need you to listen to me."**

**"No. What you need is time to get your mind right. I'm serious."**

Rhode pulled Tony closer to him and relaxed when he felt the genius sigh, glad to receive affection.

**"Okay."**

**“It's nice seeing you, Tony," Rhodey said before leaving.**

**"Thanks."**

"You look disappointed," Steve said inadvertently."

Sam rolled her eyes from him and elbowed him in the ribs. "Thanks Rogers for your great input. If you hadn't pointed it out we wouldn't have noticed," Tony  replied coldly making the Captain flinch.

**Tony appeared in his workshop, working on his computer and hologram table, the keyboard full of foreign symbols.**

"Is that your keyboard? I've never seen anything like that," Wanda said.

"Mr. Stark uses the symbols so that whoever wants to use it without being him, cannot do it," Vision explained.

"The little brat didn't even want to explain to me how it worked," grumbled Fury.

Tony smirked, "Are you still mad about that? I thought resentment hurt the soul."

Nick looked at him like he was an idiot, "That's what I told you when you were ten and you were giving me the cold shoulder because I didn't let you drive my car." They all laughed, leaving aside the surprise that they were still given to see Fury so comfortable with Tony.

**"JARVIS, you up?"**

**"For you, sir, always."**

"Oh, does that mean you've seen more than you'd like?"

Vision winced at Maria's question. "Let's say I'm glad I was able to erase that part of JARVIS's memory."

**"I'd like to open a new project file, indexed as Mark Two."**

**"Shall I store this on the Stark Industries Central Database?"**

"Nope, bad idea," muttered Sam to himself.

**"Actually, I don't know who to trust right now. Till further notice, why don't we just keep everything on my private server?"**

**"Working on a secret project, are we, sir?"**

**"I don't want this winding up in the wrong hands. Maybe in mine, it can actually do some good."**

"That you did my friend. That you did," Thor said smiling at him.

**A group of men are shown wandering the desert in search of the first suit. When one finally finds the mask, the boss appears on the screen. Raza turns** **his head and it looks like burns fill that side of his face**

"Shit, they're looking for the suit. They're sure to recreate it, right?"

Tony smiled at Sam, "You're intuitive, Wilson. I'm impressed."

Steve saw the interaction and felt a hint of jealousy. Sam was finding it easy for Tony to like him, and he didn't know if he liked the idea. He felt that he was losing a friend, although logically he knew that he was not like that, but he couldn't help but think,  _ what are they going to think when they see what happened in Siberia? _

**Tony was working on a boot for the new suit in his workshop. His robot de el, Dum-E, was assisting him.**

**"Next. Up. Not in the boot, Dum-E. Right here. You got me? Stay put. Nice. You're of no benefit at all. Move down to the toe. I got this. Okay, I'm sorry, am I in your way? Up. Screw it. Don't even move. You are a tragedy. "**

They all laughed when they saw the billionaire arguing with his robot.

"Is it weird that I want to pet him?" Wanda asked.

"Not at all, Dum-E does that to people," Vision said with a fond smile.

Steve frowned, "Why did we never meet Dum-E?"

"You never met him because you never wanted to. Bruce and Thor adore him. Rhodey is considered his uncle, even Nick has spent time with him and the other bots. If you hadn’t ignored me when I invited you to the workshop, we wouldn’t be talking about this."

That seemed to silence him and an expression of guilt even appeared on his and Clint's faces.

That's right. If they were going to be difficult then he wasn't going to keep silent. He was done with their bullshit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, I know this was short but I couldn't concentrate. Anyway, this week there'll be one or two more updates. Thanks for all the love and support you give me. It means the world to me ♥


	11. Bad news

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony starts testing parts of the suit and Obadiah brings news.

**Tony was wearing the boots in his workshop for a test flight. One of the robots was filming it, while Dum-E was in charge of the fire extinguisher.**

"Fuck," Tony said covering his face with one hand.

Bruce poked his side, "What's wrong?"

**"Okay, let's do this right. Start mark, half a meter, and back and center. Dum-E, look alive. You're on standby for fire safety. U, roll it. Okay. Activate hand controls. We're gonna start off nice and easy. We're gonna see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift. "**

"Only 10%? I thought you were going to start a lot more recklessly," Hill said in surprise. Tony just braced himself for what was to come.

**"And three, two, one." Tony immediately fling back and hit the upper wall. When he was back on the floor, Dum-E used the fire extinguisher on him.**

Laughter filled the room and even Nick had a smirk on his face. With amusement in his eyes but trying to pretend he wasn't laughing, Bruce asked, "What was worse? Hitting the wall or eating the entire contents of the fire extinguisher?"

"Ha, ha, very funny, Banner. Hilarious, really."

"I am pretty funny," he answered grinning at him.

**Tony was then seen working on flight stabilizers for his hands and arms. While he was working, Pepper came in with a wrapped box and a cup of** **something.**

**"Up two. All right, set that," he said.**

**Exasperated, she commented, "I've been buzzing you. Did you hear the intercom?"**

"Fat chance," Tony muttered.

**"Yeah, everything's ... What?" He was still distracted with the flight stabilizer.**

**"Obadiah's upstairs," she informed him.**

**"Great!"**

"You are not listening to a word that she is saying, are you?"

"Very perceptive of you, Capsicle."

**"What would you like me to tell him?"**

**"Great. I'll be right up."**

**"Okay. I thought you said you were done making weapons," she said with a frown.**

**"It is. This is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless." After he said that, the stabilizer shot, flinging Tony backwards and scaring Pepper.**

Laughter rang out again and Vision said, "With this kind of entertainment now you can understand why JARVIS never got bored."

Tony gaped at him but then sent him one of her rare genuine smiles. _ Yeah, he was his kid alright. _

**"I didn't expect that."**

"I don't know how you survived so long with your mad scientist tendencies," Rhodey said, shaking his head.

"That's because I have nine lives. Like a cat."

**Tony then went upstairs to find Obadiah playing the piano and Pepper working on the couch. "How'd it go? It went that bad, huh?" He said when he saw a pizza box.**

"That's an outrage! Pizza should never bring bad news," said Clint scowling.

"He's right," Sam added. "Pizza is sacred."

**"Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it went bad," said the older man, still playing the piano.**

**"Sure doesn't. Oh boy."**

**"It would have gone better if you were there."**

**"Uh-huh. You told me to lay low. That's what I've been doing. I lay low, and you take care of all .."**

"I'm impressed, Stark. I didn't think you were capable of obeying someone else's rules," Natasha commented, earning a death glare from the genius.

**"Hey, come on. In public. The press," he said approaching Tony and sitting next to him. "This was a board of directors meeting."**

Rhodey scoffed, "I'm pretty sure Tony had no idea there was a meeting with the board and Obadiah knew it." This caused Wanda and Sam to look at him curiously, but they both refrained from asking.

**"This was a board of directors meeting?"**

“See? What did I just say?”

**"The board is claiming you have post-traumatic stress. They're filing an injunction."**

**"A what?"**

**"They want to lock you out."**

**"Why, 'cause the stocks dropped 40 points? We knew that was gonna happen."**

**"Fifty-six and a half," Pepper informed them.**

"Ouch, how the hell did you do to recover after a hit like that?"

"Stark Industries immediately began to produce hundreds of new projects for the public, not just humanitarian projects but we made an emphasis on the technological advance part. That was what saved us," explained Tony.

At this, Thor said with a big smile, "Due to your social status and the success of your company, my people would consider you a Lord."

"Valkyrie told me something similar, but that was after seeing my cellar," he replied with a chuckle.

“Who’s Valkyrie?” Steve asked.

“A friend,” said Tony with a soft expression.

**"It doesn't matter. We own the controlling interest in the company."**

"Yeah, I don't think they care about that," Fury muttered.

"Tony, the board has rights, too. They're making the case that you and your new direction isn't in the company's best interest."

**"I'm being responsible!" Tony said determinedly. "That's a new direction for me, for the company. I mean, me on the company's behalf being responsible for the way that ... This is great." He stood up, taking the pizza box with him. Obadiah followed.**

"You were really trying to be responsible and turn the company around from the core onward," Wanda said without addressing anyone in particular. Her head was getting more and more messy with the passing of the footage. Tony Stark was contradicting everything she thought about her person.

**"Oh come on. Tony. Tony."**

**"I'll be in the shop," he said reaching the stairs.**

**"Hey, hey! Hey, Tony. Listen. I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them. Let me have the engineers analyze that," he said, pointing to the reactor. "You know, draw up some specs."**

"You're not going to put your creepy ass hands in that reactor," Bruce said with a hint of green appearing in his eyes.

Tony winced. He hadn't told anyone except JARVIS what had happened to Obadiah. No one knew how he had ripped the reactor from his chest and left him paralyzed on the couch. Yup, that was going to be fun to watch.

**"No. No, absolutely not."**

**"It'll give me a bone to throw the boys in New York!"**

"Why would he throw a bone at them?" Thor asked innocently.

"It's not literal, big guy, just a saying"

**"This one stays with me. That's it, Obie. Forget it."**

**"All right, well, this stays with me, then," said Obadiah, taking the pizza box back. "Go on, here, you can have a piece. Take two."**

"How generous of you," Fury said dryly.

**"Thank you."**

**"You mind if I come down there and see what you're doing?"**

**"Good night, Obie."**

As the scene changed, everyone was thinking the same. Obadiah Stane shed negative vibes every time he appeared on screen, and everyone feared what was behind the mask of good businessman and friend. Because everyone knew that the man was dead, but no one believed the story of the plane crashing.

  
  



	12. Test flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony takes the suit for a spin

**Tony was running another flight test, this time wearing the boots and the hand flight stabilizers. "Day 11, test 37, configuration 2.0. For lack of a better option, Dummy is still on fire safety. If you douse me again, and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college."**

"That's a little mean, Tones," Rhodey said with a chuckle.

"Poor Dum-E," added Wanda who kept wanting to pet the robot.

Tony looked at them feigning offense, "Hey, he knows I'm not serious. He's my first born, clearly I'm not going to donate him to some college where they'll use him as a janitor."

**"All right, nice and easy. Seriously, just gonna start off with 1% thrust capacity. And three, two, one." He lifted off the ground and hovered for a bit before landing.**

"It's so weird to see you like this, all awkward and cautious flying only a few inches off the ground," Bruce whispered into his ear.

"Why?"

"It's just that you always seem so in your element that I forget that you actually had to learn to fly and you weren't born with the ability."

**"Okay. Please don't follow me around with it either, 'cause I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously. Just stand down! If something happens, then come in. And again, let's bring it up to 2.5. Three, two, one. " He Lifted off the ground with less control and started hovering all over the workshop.**

"No, you idiot, get away from the cars!" yelled Sam.

Clint also raised his voice saying, "Not the cars! Those are beauties more expensive than my house!"

**"Okay, this is where I don't want to be! Not the car, not the car! Table! Could be worse! Could be worse! We're fine! Okay." I have landed where I have** **started. Dummy goes to use the fire extinguisher. "No! Uh-uh! Uh-uh! Yeah, I can fly."**

"Dum-E was just doing his job," Vision said.

Tony looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "You and I both know that when he uses the fire extinguisher he does it deliberately just to annoy me."

"Yes, you might be correct."

**The scene changes and robots can be seen placing parts of the suit on Tony's body.**

"This is going to be exciting. I've never seen your first proper suit," Thor said with a big boyish smile.

"I don't think any of us have seen it," Steve said.

Natasha raised a hand with a smirk, "I have."

Confused glances were directed at the spy, but neither she nor the others who knew of her time spent at Stark Industries deigned to explain.

**"JARVIS, are you there?" Tony asked, putting on his mask.**

**"At your service, sir."**

**"Engage heads-up display." Lights and holograms began to appear in front of the genius's face.**

"Wow, is that what it looks like from inside the suit?" Sam asked.

"Yup."

"Man, that looks like it destroys your eyesight."

"Nah, you get used to it over time. Besides, it's not as bright as it looks on screen."

**"Check."**

**"Import all preferences from home interface."**

**The HUD began to scan the environment and absorb information about it. "Will do, sir."**

"Damn, how do you keep up with all that information?"

Tony shrugged, "How do you always hit the target with your arrows? It's easy for me, my brain is primed to understand much more information than the average human could."

"And that's why we need you in SHIELD," Fury said.

"Still not gonna happen, Nick. Get over it."

**"** **All right, what do you say?"**

**"I have indeed been uploaded, sir. We are online and ready."**

**"Can we start the virtual walk-around?"**

**"Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environments."**

**"Do a check on control surfaces"**

**"As you wish."**

"Is it strange hearing your voice as JARVIS?" Wanda asked Vision.

"Not really, most of the JARVIS memories appeared in my memory as time went by. Now it is like seeing part of my life on the screen. Although I know that it  is not entirely me."

"You're still my kid anyway," Tony said looking straight at the android.

Vision, would’ve blushed if his body had let him, but the only thing he could do was look down to hide the small contented smile.

**Finally, the full suit is shown. All silvery and imposing, eyes lit with light and clenched hands.**

"Holy damn, that's so awesome," sighed Sam.

"It is a wonderful creation, my friend," Thor said, patting him on the back.

Hill looked at him and said mockingly, "The big question is: how did it go from all silver to red and gold.”

**"Test complete. Preparing to power down and begin diagnostics."**

**"Uh, yeah. Tell you what. Do a weather and ATC check. Start listening in on ground control."**

"Do you think that is wise considering that you are just learning to fly?"

Tony glared at Steve, "I never claimed to be wise, Rogers."

**"Sir, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is-"**

"I do not even know why I tried," Vision commented.

**"JARVIS! Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk."**

"That doesn't make any sense," said Rhodey.

**"Ready? In three, two, one." Tony began hovering and flew out of the garage into the sky at full speed and whooping with excitement.**

"You look like you're having fun," Bruce told him.

Tony nodded, "It's the best feeling in the world," then he looked at his boyfriend and with a smirk corrected, "The second best feeling in the world."

The effect was immediate and the scientist, blushing to the ears, hit him on the arm and then hid his face in his neck. "I hate you."

"No you don't."

"No I don't."

**"Handles like a dream. All right, let's see what this thing can do. What's SR-71's record?"**

**"The altitude record for fixed wing flight is 85,000 feet, sir."**

**"Records are made to be broken! Come on!" He then began flying straight up.**

Vision covered his face with one hand, feeling the stress of the situation as if it were happening in real time.

**"Sir, there is a potentially fatal buildup of ice occurring."**

**"Keep going! Higher!"**

"Tony! Why don't you ever listen to him?" Rhodey looked at him accusingly.

He replied with an embarrassed smile, "Yeah, well. Not one of my finest moments."

**Ice built up around the suit, causing it to stop working and him to start falling from the sky. "We iced up, JARVIS! Deploy flaps! JARVIS! Come on, we got to break the ice!"**

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod," Steve muttered under his breath.

"Dammit Tony, why are you so stubborn? If your AI tells you to do something, you do it. Jesus fucking christ. You realize that you are the reason why I am bald, right?"

All the Avengers and Hill tried to contain their laughter at the headmaster's words.

"Why Nick, I thought that was because of your baby agents who question everything from missions to how you dress."

**Tony manually got the flaps up. The power started just before he crashed into traffic. He headed back to the mansion and hovered above it, hoping to** **safely land on the roof.**

"Hey, it could have turned out worse," Sam said looking on the bright side.

**"Kill power."**

**Power was killed and Tony fell through the roof, the piano, and down into his workshop, landing on top of a car.**

"Not the car!" Clint said painfully.

Natasha looked at Sam, "You never have to say that if you're talking about Tony. He always finds a way to make it worse."

The spy received some glares from Bruce and Rhodey.

"If I were you I would shut up, Natashalie. These movies are not only going to show me, you are also part of them." That seemed to silence her, but she gave no sign of emotion whatsoever.

**Dum-E used the fire extinguisher on him and Tony dropped his head in resignation.**

Everyone laughed at the interaction. "He's so cute," Wanda said.

"Maybe when we get out of here, sometime in the future, I can introduce him to you," Tony told him cautiously.

He knew that the witch hated him or at least hated him, but he also knew that Dum-E loves meeting new people and that Vision wouldn't let her hurt him.

Surprised, Wanda replied softly, "I would like that."

They exchanged small smiles and Tony felt an arm go around his waist along with Bruce's voice in his ear. "That was very mature. I am proud of you."


End file.
